Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born 26 November 1990 in Pristina, SR Serbia) is a Kosovo-born British singer-songwriter and actress.
She attended Sylvia Young Theatre School (whose notable alumni include Vanessa White of The Saturdays, Amy Winehouse and Billie Piper) and worked with musicians such as Craig David and Tinchy Stryder before going on to audition for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. However, she later withdrew due to "not feeling ready" for the competition.
Events soon took a turn for the better as she signed up with Jay-Z's label Roc Nation alongside fellow Brit starlets Sugababes. She began appearing in videos with the likes of Drake and Jay-Z himself, and released her debut single "Hot Right Now" (a collaboration with DJ Fresh), which topped the UK Charts. This was followed by two other UK number-ones, "R.I.P." (featuring Tinie Tempah) and "How We Do (Party)". These singles were also relatively successful overseas, especially in Australia.
Ora released her debut album, Ora, throughout most territories in August 2012. There were plans to release the Deluxe Edition in the US as her first album in the American market, but as of 2014 this appears to have been scrapped in favour of her second studio album becoming her official American debut.
The first single from her second album, "I Will Never Let You Down", was released in 2014, and she also collaborated with Iggy Azalea on her single "Black Widow" the same year.
Discography:
- Ora (2012)
- Phoenix (2018)
Selected filmography:
- Fast & Furious 6 (2013) as Racer
- The Voice UK (2015) as herself (coach)
- The X Factor (2015) as herself (judge)
- Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) as Mia Grey
- Fifty Shades Darker (2016)
- Fifty Shades Freed (2018)
- Southpaw (2015) as Maria Escobar
- America's Next Top Model (2016) as herself (host)
- Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019) as Dr. Ann Laurent
- The Masked Singer (UK) (2020—present) as herself (panelist)
- Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight (2022) as the Wandering Blade (voice)
- The Masked Singer (US) (2024—present) as herself (panelist, replacing Nicole Scherzinger)
Rita Ora provides examples of:
- Break-Up Song: "Young, Single & Sexy", "Hello, Hi, Goodbye" (where the singer is still in pain over her last breakup and can't begin another relationship)
- The Chanteuse: One of her characters on the video for "Only Want You".
- The Fashionista: Is apparently a big fan of retraux clothing, especially the style of Marilyn Monroe.
- In Da Club: "Radioactive".
- Intercourse with You: "Crazy Girl", which hints at BDSM activity.
- Irony: The title of her 2014 song "I Will Never Let You Down" becomes this after she dumped Calvin Harris in June 2014, who even more coincidentally aided in writing and producing the song himself. Yeah, that title sure says a lot at that point.
- Named After Somebody Famous: She was named after Rita Hayworth.
- Ms. Fanservice: Well, pretty hard not to be.
- Precision F-Strike: In "Been Lying":Act like I don't really give a fuck
- Rock-Star Song: "Shine Ya Light" (overlaps with Follow Your Heart), "Roc the Life". An example of a negative version of this trope is "Been Lying".
- The Runner-Up Takes It All: Jade Ewen went on to represent Eurovision in 2009, taking what would have been Ora's place had she continued with, and possibly won, the competition. Despite a couple of top-tens with Sugababes, Ewen has essentially fallen back into obscurity. Ora, meanwhile, has now achieved worldwide stardom, including several Hollywood film roles.
- Sampling: "Facemelt" samples "Brap" by Bart B, "R.I.P." samples "Heartbeat" by Nneka, "Fall in Love" samples "Handguns (Dada Life Remix)" by Alexis Latrobe and "How We Do (Party)" interpolates the refrain of The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Party and Bullshit" (which itself comes from a line in "When the Revolution Comes" by The Last Poets).
- Sanity Slippage Song: "Uneasy", "Been Lying"
- Silly Love Songs: "Radioactive", "How We Do" (Party)", "Love and War" (feat. J. Cole), "Meet Ya"
- Third-Person Person: In "R.I.P.".
- The Unpronounceable: Ora's middle name, Sahatçiu, is her birth surname; her parents added "Ora" after they moved to Britain to avoid this trope (obviously, the name is neither unusual nor unpronounceable in Kosovo). note
- Uptown Girl: Ora loves the glamorous, wealthy lifestyle. She is good friends with famous fashion designer Vera Wang and Vogue Editor In Chief and Condé Nast artistic director Anna Wintour, who invite her to their expensive gatherings.
